


Through the Door and Knocking on Wood

by KnitHatRin



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Asgore might have been abusive, Divorce, F/M, Friendship, Goat Mom Is Best Mom, Im bad at jokes, Loneliness, Royalty, puns, the six souls
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-11
Updated: 2016-09-30
Packaged: 2018-05-19 15:30:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 4,121
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5971993
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KnitHatRin/pseuds/KnitHatRin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Toriel always had a special place in her heart for a good joke. The need for them only increased after divorcing her husband. Loneliness begins fill Toriel’s days, making her sick of life-but a certain skeleton may have just the cure.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Flashbacks

“My children! It is time for dinner!” Toriel called out, searching the land beyond the castle. Three dirty and sweaty figures came into veiw, breathing heavy and laughing hysterically. Toriel smiled at her husband, just as worn out as the two children beside him. Asgore came in for a hug, but Toriel stepped back and waved a finger at her family. 

“No hugs until you are all washed up for dinner. Go on now, I don’t need to tell you twice, do I?” She asked, watching each of them scuttle inside with very few whispers of protest. She entered after them, and set the table for dinner. After all three of her ‘children’ had sit down at the table, she served equal servings of snail pie. Toriel giggled at seeing her children, Asriel and Chara drooling at the pie that was in front of them. 

“Come now let’s say grace” Toriel said, holding out her hands to the loved ones on both sides of her. Asgore quickly and firmly takes hold of it, but Chara yanks her hand away with a disgusted look. 

“I don’t know what we have to be thankful for. We’re stuck under a stupid mountain forever.” Chara mumbled, barely audible, but Asgore’s fatherly hearing caught it just fine.

“Now, Chara,I’ll not have that attitude at the table! Please, say grace for us, Asriel?” Asgore scolds, mildly frustrated by Chara’s attitude. Toriel squeezes his hand to comfort him, but Asgore only looks away. She sighs in defeat. Asgore never let her help with anything..

“Yes Papa, dear God, thank you for Mama, and Papa, and Chara, and Snail pie! Please let it fill our tummies, amen” Asriel says sheepishly. He looks up for Asgore’s approval, but the king is looking at Chara, reprimanding another rude comment. Asriel feels tears, but shoves them away. The prince shouldn’t cry. The prince should be strong like his dad. 

“Thank you, Asriel.” Asgore says, finally letting Asriel know that he had at least been heard by his dad.No one took any time before taking a bite of the delicious pie. Before too long, the plates were empty. Asriel cleared the plates, a sleepy look in his eyes. Asriel always did what his father told him to. Chara on the other hand, was a little more difficult to handle. Toriel didn’t blame the poor child. Chara had fallen down a hole in the mountain and was never going to see her family again. No one deserved that to happen to them, and certainly not such a small child as Chara was. Just thinking about what Chara had gone through made Toriel want to hug the little ones in front of her. Asgore on the other hand, didn’t put up with anything. Toriel thought he should have relaxed a bit more, but he never took her advice. After all, she was just the one to cook and clean to him.

….

Toriel opened her eyes, smiling tiredly at remembering the good times in her life before her children… Before her husband….. Toriel shivered with the weight that settled in her stomach with the bad memories, as well as the good ones.

….

“T-Tori! Wh-what are you doing… here?” Asgore stammered. Toriell looked at him sternly, making him flinch. He had never seen his wife so upset. She had never seen him so scared. It filled her with the feeling of power. She had to stop what was happening. 

“Just what in the world do you think you are doing Asgore Dreemurr!?” Toriel exclaimed, letting her husband know just how she felt. She had kept her interests hidden for him for so long. It was time to let herself do what she wanted for the first time in a very long time.The child in front of him turned around, a few scrapes visible. It broke Toriel’s heart. She had to stop him from killing another innocent child. 

“T-Tori…” Asgore said sheepishly, trying to reason to some extent with his pissed wife. She only shook her head. She was done with excuses from him, tired of letting him do what he wanted. This had gone too far.

“Don’t you ‘Tori’ me, Asgore. You know very well that you only need one soul to pass the barrier! You already have three! NOT ANOTHER CHILD MAY DIE UNDER MY RULE.” Toriel says, her voice suddenly not so motherly and now full of hatred. Hatred for the coward she called husband. Asgore gulped. This was far past reasoning. Toriel’s eyes scanned the poor child, softening her gaze just the smallest bit to calm the poor creature. She was just like Chara. And just like Chara and several others, she was going to die. Toriel ignored that thought, desperate to not show weakness in front of her husband. It was a practice she had learned well as queen.

“W-what are you going to do…? T-Tori-Toriel?” Asgore stammered, dumbfounded at the strange and mean way Toriel was acting. Toriel laughed internally. How long had she wanted to see her husband cower like this? Too long. 

“I am leaving. I cannot take this anymore, Asgore. I am packing up my things,” Toriel finished, walking away briskly. Asgore didn’t even have time to react before she was gone and he once again had to fight a child for their soul. It made him want to cry, but it was the way things had to be. 

Once she was out of earshot, Toriel let a few silent sobs escape with a few tears. She packed quickly, wanting to forget about her time as queen. She opened the door to the castle and began her journey to a new life.

 

….

Torel squeezed her eyes shut, letting out a single tear. Now was not the time to think about the past. That was the whole reason she had moved to the ruins in the first place. Toriel walked purposefully out the door, looking at the bed of golden flowers. That was where she had buried Chara. She wouldn’t let Asgore have her baby’s soul. Not this one. From time to time she had found a wandering child and helped them through the catacombs. All of them had died, though. Luckily, there was no child today so she headed home to read a bit and go to bed. She did this every day, get up, read, cook, check the flowers, read, sleep, repeat. Toriel sighed, the life she left behind wasn’t for her. Perhaps this one wasn’t either. Maybe she should go somewhere else… do something other than what she was doing. Toriel chuckled and shook her head. What silly talk, she thought to herself. But that night she lay in bed and wondered, was it really that silly? What if it were true?


	2. Voices

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> :)
> 
> Hi.

Toriel looked out the window, seeing the darkness that was the sky only made her feel worse. She remembered very vaguely what the stars and sun… oh, how she missed the warmth the sun gave. It was so beautiful! And the sunrises and sunsets. It took her a few seconds to realize that she was crying. She took out her handkerchief and gently dabbed the damp fur. The stale air of the ruins and all of the underground made her want nothing more than to breath in the sweet breath of flowers. That was the freshest air you could get in the underground. 

She often wondered in these times, these days filled with nothing more than longing and loneliness, if it was even worth living. She was no longer queen, in fact the only ones who knew where she was, was the humans in which she helped.

At first, it felt nice to finally be alone. No guards, no subjects, no one. But as the days wore into weeks, and the weeks dragged into months, Toriel felt less and less… whole. Like she had lost something by leaving. Not just her husband, but being cut off from society.

Everyone already thought that she was dead, so what would it matter if she really was. Sobs exploded into the silence Toriel was so used to. If she died, no one would know. No one would mourn. Toriel dropped to her knees , weak with such negative emotions inside of her. She cried and cried well into the night, but she couldn’t tell. There was no sun to tell her the time. 

She got up, stiff from the uncomfortable position she had been in. She walked down to the basement, down the long hallway. Maybe if she came back… maybe someone would accept her. But Asgore would find her…. no. She couldn’t risk it. She looked ahead and saw the door. She sat against it, feeling the coolness through her fur. Outside was Snowdin. She heard a sliding sound from the other side. Then a sigh. Her eyes widened in surprise. There was someone on the other side! 

“Hey, you’ve been crying for a while, what’s up?” A muffled and deep voice asked. Toriel gasped into her paw. 

“My-My dear, I’m a-afraid you have quite startled me, please forgive me for my rudeness.” Toriel stuttered, in utter shock. This was the first time she had conversed with anyone in over ten years other than the last human, which was five years ago. 

“Heh, no problem. So WATER you crying about?” The voice asked. Toriel assumed that the voice was a he. 

“W-was that a, a pun, dear?” She asked, once again startled.

“Yeah, glad you caught on. Seriously, why are you crying?” The voice persisted, obviously still interested. Toriel thought a bit, when an idea found its way into her mind.

“Oh, nothing dearie, just my house you see, it’s in RUINS” Toriel drawled, and muffled laughter came from the other side of the door. To make another living thing laugh felt so nice. 

“Uh, I gotta go…” The voice says, a thump and a muffled creak was heard. After that, the hallway was once again quiet. Toriel sighed, the emptiness off the hallway consuming her with with more intensity than she had ever felt. But the loneliness still didn't match the warm feeling in her chest at making someone smile. She wondered if she would ever talk to the voice again. She hoped so. The voice seemed friendly, and enjoyed a good pun, just as herself. A flutter of something found its was into Toriel's soul. Happiness. Toriel once again sighed, and curled into a ball, remembering the conversation. A smile slowly formed on her lips. Toriel couldn’t remember the last time she had felt happiness.


	3. Premonition

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! My schedule just got a whole lot emptier, so expect more updates, Yay! 
> 
> Enjoy!

Sans woke up with a sigh. It was another day of sameness. He got up, changing into the same clothes to start the same job. Sentry station duty. His job was to be on the lookout for humans, and they had all previously been found around the door that led to the ruins. The ruins were a mysterious place that monsters whispered about and children told about to their friends around a campfire, trying to make the others tremble with fear. Legend says that the former Queen had fled the castle, taking the human child that she and Asgore had cared for which had died, and buried them there. They say the Queen was never heard from again.

Sans shook his shoulders violently. He stopped believing those silly old stories years ago. The Queen was a boss monster and they didn’t die except in combat. Sans would know this because Papyrus was one. Sans himself was even a boss monster, but he kept it a secret. Who knows what Papyrus would do if he figured it out. But it wasn’t like Sans would even fight anyone anyways. He was too lazy. Sans walked down to the station; Papyrus had already gotten up hours ago to train with Undyne, and looked at his watch. Just as he had thought, it was a perfect time for a morning nap. 

….

Sans started awake, aware of every sound in the forest. He felt like if he listened hard enough, he could hear the sound of the snow falling. A louder sound broke the silence. It was muffled and sounded like pain. Sans got up, a few joints creaking after laying still for so long, it was almost lunch time. The noise came again, and Sans scoured to find the source. It was coming from the direction of the ruins! Perhaps a new child was here, and they were too scared to come out. Sans walked up to the door and listened. The wails did not stop. Sans gently sat down against the door waited for a time between sobs.

“Hey, you’ve been crying for a while, what’s up?” He asked. A gasp sounded from the other side. He grimaced. He hadn’t wanted to startle the human! Papyrus would be very disappointed with him. But then again, when wasn’t he getting in trouble for one act of laziness or another? Sans could hardly make out the words spoken to him, but he heard a few versions of an apology. He concluded that it was no child he was talking to. Either way, he hadn’t wanted to make anyone upset.

“Hey, no problem. So WATER you crying about?” He asked. He hoped the old joke plan would work. 

“W-was that a, a pun, dear?” The voice stammered. Sans laughed internally at surprise in the voice. At least they weren’t crying anymore.

“Yeah, glad you caught on. Seriously, why are you crying?” Sans repeated, hoping for an answer. He wasn’t the best with other people, but he knew that grown ups like what the voice seemed to be didn’t cry very often. But the door was thick, and he could have heard wrong. It took longer for an answer this time, and Sans had started to think the mysterious being had left.

“Oh nothing dearie, its just my house you see, its in RUINS” The voice finally responded. It was Sans’ turn to gasp. The pieces began to form in his mind. He shouldn’t have been there. He gulped and tried to make the least suspicious escape he could. 

“Uh, I gotta go…” Sans blurted out, already walking away. He hoped the voice wasn’t too upset. Even if they were sad, it was dangerous for him to talk to this person, he could feel it. He made a mental note to look more distantly for humans next time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Your comments brighten my day!
> 
> Also, if I made some dramatic readings for my stories on youtube, would anyone watch them? Let me know!
> 
> -EndarCreft out!


	4. Dreams

Toriel waited ages for the voice to return, but she soon fell asleep in the damp silence. The voice did not return. When morning came Toriel stretched, enjoying the satisfying pops that were from her tired joints. She stumbled in a half asleep state to her kitchen, the wood grain of her home warming her after her lonely night at the ruins door. The warmness filled something within her. Of her home at the castle, where she felt safe and loved, with her children and husband.

It was times like these that almost made Toriel want to go back to the castle. But alas, she remembered why she left. The gruffness of her husband sometimes had sent her to bed wishing she could leave. She had always wore a mask for the children though. Toriel wouldn’t want to worry a single hair on their heads with such grown up problems. 

Coming back to reality, the eerie silence and cleanness of her home reminded her of her losses. Her home once again felt empty, as did her heart. There was no children’s joyful laughter and shrieks to fill her hallways. No husband’s muddy tracks from the snowy forest to mop up, or freshly eaten pie to clean up. No one to care for and no one to care for her. 

….  
(Sans’ Point of View)

The knife gleamed in the hand of the child. A child he would have thought innocent had it not been for those beady, red eyes and what he had seen them, IT do. He remembered his brother. He remembered a lady’s voice from the other side of the door telling him to protect this evil creature. He hated making promises. Especially ones like that one, ones that he had to break. The creature lunged at him and plunged the blade into his chest, dragging it along his front, grinding his rib bones. Pain and blood poured in and from him as he collapsed on the ground in a pool of his own red, life giving fluid. The metallic smell was as sickening as the smile on the true monster’s face as it continued to its next victim. 

Sans gasped for air, wondering how he could possibly be alive still and why it was so dark. He felt pressure all around him, and realized he was tangled in his blankets, with the floor beneath him instead of the mattress. He worked himself free, the fresh air chilling him to the bone with the sweat soaked hoodie he was wearing. Standing up, he changed out of the heavy, sticky and stinky material to another on the floor beside him. Papyrus would have to do laundry soon. 

Looking around, he noted the mess with familiarity, but not for a broken lamp beside his bed. It shook him. He would have to hide it from Papyrus. He knew how it had broke. He often accidentally used his powers when he was having one of those nightmares. It scared him at first that he did, it was very easy to hurt someone like that. Not to mention stuff like that didn’t happen unless a baby monster was just getting their powers. But San’s always made sure Papyrus was asleep before he was so that didn’t happen. Besides, Papyrus didn’t like going into his room because of how messy it was. So Sans figured the secret was safe for now. Still, it didn’t hurt to be careful, so Sans tiptoed to the taller skeleton’s room and was satisfied to open the door and see him quietly snoring, the little nyehehes making him smile. Yep, the secret was still safe. 

Relieved of his quietness, Sans went back to bed praying for better dreams. He had work after all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, I hope you enjoy the story so far! I am actually starting on some dramatic readings of a few of my stories, so you should check out my youtube!
> 
> -EndarCreft out!


	5. Whispers

Late into the night, Sans was greeted by nightmares over and over, so many that when he awoke in a pool of fresh sweat and tears he realized he had not remembered a single one of them except for a word. 

Determination. 

The word, mysteriously being repeated in his head shook him to the core for some reason that had to do with the terrible night terrors. He never wanted to hear the word again, and yet there it was, echoing in his brain and making him tremble with tears leaking out of his eye sockets. The room began to glow blue as he panicked, opening the window to the frigid outdoors and running through what looked to be a snow storm. Not that Sans was paying any attention to the weather. Sans had no idea even what direction he was heading, and didn’t plan to find out until a loud bang interrupted the sounds of his feet crunching snow and his soft, murmuring sobs. Sans looked up at the wall of stone before him.

He was at the ruins door.

The skeleton leaned against it and tried to control his crying when he heard something. A whisper. Sans held his breath, trying not to make a sound. Maybe it was just the wind? But no, there it was again. He leaned as far as he could and strained to listen when he finally understood words.

“B-but, would I?”

….

Late into the night, Toriel awoke to find something different. She looked around, searching for what it was. She closed her eyes and focused on the feeling. It was in her heart. She got up from bed, not seeing any sleep in sight and began to walk around the same home she had lived in since as long as she could remember it seemed. The days of happiness when a child would fall were long gone, the last one had been many years ago, and so were her days of fear. 

Toriel, shifting through her memories tried to remember the last time she smiled. She sighed as the memory came to her. The mysterious voice behind the door. Much like she looked for a fallen human everyday, she had spent a few hours at the door, waiting to hear something, anything. But she never did. And yet, even when she had never heard the voice from the first day, Toriel found herself at the staircase and looking down into the blackness of the basement. She took a breath and began her descent. 

The chilly dampness greeted her into the passage, causing the furry monster to shiver as she whispered to herself.

“Maybe they would take me back, I am their queen after all,” She began. Rubbing her hands up and down her arms, Toriel tried to calm her trembling from the cold.

“T-there must be a snow storm outside” She continued, remembering the icy forest from when she journeyed out here so long ago. She could also hear strange sounds, kind of like sobbing, but she knew that wind sometimes made strange sounds. Reaching the door, the cold seemed to overtake her. Would she even survive out there? What if no one accepted her? Toriel knew that was a silly thought, monsters were very hospitable from what she remembered. They would no doubt take her in. 

“B-but would I?” Toriel asked into the darkness. She had then remembered why she left, which was so that no more children would be hurt. Little use her efforts had made, all of the children that fell still found a way to get killed. She sat down against the door, curling into a ball and trying to reserve her own body heat. Then, she heard a voice.

THE voice.


	6. Conversations

It was awkward to say the least, to talk so someone who had ignored you for the longest time. Toriel shifted uncomfortably, aware that she had to say something. She knew the voice was on the other side, she could hear them breathing. Toriel opened her mouth to speak, but a voice interrupted her that was the most broken and fear filled sound she had heard since the last fallen child.

“Hello?” The voice quivered, and a sniff rang through the frosty air into Toriel’s ears and straight to her heart.

“I’m here, my child,” Toriel answered using the most maternal voice she could muster. She didn’t care if the voice was a child or not, they needed comforting. 

“I’m sorry if I made you wait, I wasn’t supposed to come back,” The voice continues and Toriel’s heart breaks. Yet, she still answered sweetly through tears,

“It is alright,” 

“I’d tell a joke, but my mind is FROZEN in place,” The voice says, lightening the mood and warming Toriel’s heart. 

“I don’t think I’ve ever felt such cold,” Toriel answers back, still shivering a small bit through her coat. 

“Eh, it’s not too often Snowdin has a blizzard like this one, but what can I say? The cold just goes right through me, heh” Toriel listened for an explanation of the last part, it was obviously a joke but she didn’t get it. She didn’t let that get to her though, as she thought of another pun. 

“Well, dear, If you hear me saying it’s warm just know that I’m FLAKING it” She said with a chuckle, and received one from the other side of the door.

And so, the two talked late into the night and early into the morning. They told puns and jokes to pass the time and said everything that came to mind. Sans hadn’t felt so free to say whatever he wanted without repercussion and Toriel just enjoyed any interaction at all. It was a night to remember for both of them, and Toriel listened intently as Sans nervously told her about his nightmare. He in return lent his non existent ears as she told him about her loneliness. They planned to meet the next night and they did, and repeated it the next and the next for countless nights. Neither asked to see the other. 

And that was fine.

The End.


	7. Author's Note

Thank you guys so much for your support on this story! It really means alot to me that so many people have wanted to read this! Have a good day and stay determined!

 

A little about me:

I'm a sophomore with a bunch of time on my hands who love to write (duh) draw, sing and paint my nails! 

Please tell me your thoughts on the story, your comments brighten my day!


End file.
